Anatomy of a Converting Landing Page: What Clockify Gets Right

Every once in a while I stumble across a landing page that gets everything right: copy, design, UX, you name it. I usually just bookmark them to my swipe file for future inspiration, but recently I found one that converted so well I just had to do a full breakdown of its awesomeness.

The landing page is from Clockify, a free time-tracking app for freelancers and other contractual workers who bill clients by the hour.

So what makes this the best landing page ever? Let me count the ways.

Let’s dig in, shall we?

1. It’s SEO-optimized

As a freelancer who normally charges by the hour, I was on the hunt for a good time-tracking app. To see what was out there, I Googled “timer app for freelancers”. Below were the results.

Of course, I couldn’t help but notice that prominent Featured Snippet with a whole list of time-tracking apps. But when I noticed it was from 2016 (ancient in internet time), my eyes traveled down to the first search result below it: Free Time Tracker for Freelancers.

Talk about SEO-optimized. It matched well with the keywords I used, plus it was free! There was no way I could resist clicking.

When I arrived on the page, the headline also used my keywords. This helped connect it with the Google search result and further solidified that this was the type of product I was looking for.

But SEO optimization isn’t just about using the right keywords. Your page also has to show relevant content and provide a good user experience. This landing page does both, as I explain below.

2. It passes the 5-Second Test

The 5-Second Test measures whether or not your customers can tell within the first 5 seconds of visiting your website what you do, why they should care, and how to take action.

I knew all of these things immediately when I landed on Clockify’s page.

What they do: Free time tracking app for freelancers. [The headline]
Why I should care: Clockify is the only 100% free time tracking app that lets freelancers and contractors track billable hours and hourly rates. [The subhead]
How to take action: Link button that says “GET STARTED - IT’S FREE!”

Because of these things, I stayed on the page to engage further instead of hitting the back button to the Google results to try another website.

3. It knows what its audience wants

When Clockify crafted this landing page, it knew its target audience well. In this case, its audience was me: a freelancer who charges by the hour and needs a way to keep track of time spent on client work so I can bill accurately. It also knew by my search terms (“timer app for freelancers”) that I was already solution-aware, I just didn’t know what products were out there.

That’s why, when I visited the page, all the information was relevant to my situation and my stage in the buyer’s journey.

It also helped that the product itself is designed with a freelancer’s time-tracking and billing needs in mind:

The app has a well-designed interface, making it easy to use.
It lets you organize your time by client and project.
It generates eye-catching reports you can share with clients.
You can use it anywhere – on your phone, your computer, or integrated with popular project management systems.
It’s free – a big consideration for those paying their own business expenses.

The copy and design clearly highlight all of these relevant features and uses targeted language that resonated with me.

At this point, I thought: Clockify totally gets me. You want your target audience to have the same feeling when they visit your landing page.

4. Its copy is super clear

Clockify also gets that busy freelancers don’t have time to sift through wordy copy to find out if they should download their product. That’s why the copy gets right to the point and doesn’t try to be clever.

The super-clear copy at the top helped it pass the 5-Second Test.
The copy is scannable, using bullets, short cross-heads, and short paragraphs of 1 or 2 sentences.
Uses short, simple steps to show how it works.

But does it convert?

The ultimate goal of any landing page is to convert. In this case, the conversion was signing up for a free account to use the app.

So for me, the answer is yes – it did convert. And according to the copy below the button, it converted 89,802 people in the previous month.

I signed up for an account within 5 minutes of landing on the page. I then downloaded the desktop app and installed the Chrome browser extension. BOOM, conversion.

TL;DR: Takeaways

Clockify’s page targeting freelancers is a good example of a conversion-focused landing page. It gets a lot of things right that you can apply to your own landing pages:

Know the problem your audience is trying to solve and show them how your product or service solves it.
Keep your copy clear and to-the-point. Less is more.
Offer something free – like a free trial, free shipping, or free download.
Optimize the page for SEO.
Before launching, see if it passes the 5-Second Test.